


History

by SpellStorm



Category: Infernal Devices Series - Cassandra Clare, Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-09
Updated: 2014-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-04 00:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1760867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpellStorm/pseuds/SpellStorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In CoLS, Jace reads to Clary from a book that belonged to someone we all know and love. When Clary finds a tome in the Institute library, will she share the revelations inside?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Herondales and Lightwoods

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! This is a short one-shot I wrote up after rereading City of Lost Souls and realizing, belatedly, that the copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_ that Jace has in chapter 17 is the same copy that Will gave Tessa in Clockwork Princess. If anyone's interested in cementing my claim, the evidence can be found on pages 385 and 386 of the hardcover copy of CoLS.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE: I wrote this before City of Heavenly Fire came out, and before I had read any of the snippets. Also, if you haven't read The Infernal Devices (which you should) and are planning on it (which you should be), I wouldn't suggest reading this. It has connections between characters from both Shadowhunter series.

_"He unshaded his face after a little while, and spoke steadily. 'Don't be afraid to hear me. Don't shrink from anything I say. I am like one who died young. All my life might have been.'_

_"'No, Mr. Carton. I am sure that the best part of it might still be; I am sure that you might be much, much worthier of yourself.'"_

"Do you remember when you read this to me in Paris?" Clary asked, snuggling closer into her boyfriend's side. "It was the exact same passage."

"You know, as much as I want to forget Paris – and Shanghai, and Venice, and Prague, and everywhere else – that is one thing I don't want to lose." Jace put his arm around Clary's shoulders and pulled her in close. She reveled in his warmth, feeling the ever-present but contained fire burning inside him.

Clary happened to glance at the old, worn copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_ in Jace's hand. Again she saw the end of the faded dedication: _With hope at last, Will Herondale._

"Do you ever wonder?" she asked the Herondale next to her.

"Hmm?" Jace replied, distracted by her curls. "Wonder what?"

She flinched away as his fingers approached a ticklish spot behind her ear. "Who Will Herondale was," she clarified.

His fingers stilled. "Why?"

She turned onto her side so she faced him. "Well, you never knew Stephen or Celine," she began. "And even though you act like you don't care, I know that you know that you want to learn about your ancestry. _Don't_ try to deny it," she added when Jace opened his mouth. "Anyway, I was looking through the books in the Institute library and found a book on Shadowhunter family history. I read through it and found this."

Clary reached into her art bag – which she'd always used strictly for art, save for her stele in her colored pencil case – and pulled out a crisp folder. From it she pulled a sheaf of papers.

Jace stared at her. "You researched the Herondale family?"

She gave him a defensive look. "What? I was curious."

Clary got off Jace's bed and went to his perfectly-organized desk. She laid the papers out and gestured for him to come.

"Look," she said, pointing to one page. "The book I found only went back as far as 1835. There was a man named Edmund Herondale, who left the Clave to marry a mundane named Linette Owens. They had three kids: Ella, William, and Cecily.

"According to the records, Ella died at age 14; her brother William left soon after for the London Institute. He was twelve. Five years later Cecily followed him. But see? That William is the William in the dedication. It has to be; that's the only William in the Herondale family. So that's who the book belonged to. At least, it did before he gave it away."

Jace was silent. When Clary glanced at his face, she was startled to see his eyes glistening. He sat down heavily in the desk chair, and she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jace? Are you okay?" Clary reached out and began to gather the papers. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gone behind your back. This is personal, and I know you think of yourself as a Lightwood –"

A hand landed on the pages, stopping her rushed collection. She looked into Jace's eyes.

"Thank you," he said. "I know I said I didn't care about the Herondales, that my family is the Lightwoods. But this means more to me than you can understand."

Clary just nodded. "Of course."

Jace nodded as well and then turned back to the papers on the desk. "So. Where did the Herondales go after William and Cecily?"

Clary smiled. "Will married a girl named Tessa Gray. I can't find her date-of-death or her affiliation with Shadowhunters anywhere. Anyway, they had two children, James and Lucie. James married Cordelia Carstairs, and Lucie married Jesse Blackthorn. I can't find any children of Lucie and Jesse, but James and Cordelia had Owen, who married Lydia Kingsmill.

"Marcus was the son of Owen and Lydia. He married Imogen Whitelaw, who became your grandmother. They had your father Stephen, he married Amatis, got divorced, and married Celine. Then there's you and that's that."

Jace frowned. "What happened to Cecily?"

Clary shuffled through her notes. "Cecily married Gabriel Lightwood. They had three children: Anna, Christopher, and Alexander. Christopher married Grace Cartwright, and they had a son named Isidore. He married Catia Monteverde. They had a son named Andrew, who married Phoebe Gladstone. Those two had Robert, who married Maryse and had Alec, Isabelle, and Max. And adopted you, which I'm not sure would've happened if they'd realized how much of a handful you'd turn out to be."

Jace let out a startled laugh. " _I'm_ a handful? Clary, you run into trouble almost everywhere you go, and you don't take even a second to consider your own wellbeing. I'm surprised your mother hasn't put a tracking rune on you yet." Something occurred to him. "Does Jocelyn know you're here?"

Clary winced internally. "I'm sure she's realized by now."

"Clary!" But Jace was laughing. He shook his head slowly. "What am I going to do with you, Clarissa Fairchild?"

Clary pretended to think. "I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe you could go back to the library with me to research the Fairchild family? I want to know about my ancestors, too."

Jace leaned in close. "Well let's go, then."

Clary turned to open the door but was stopped again by Jace's hand on her arm.

"Hey," he said, looking down into her eyes. "Thank you, Clary. Really. You have no idea how long I've wanted to know where I come from; I was just too scared to do it myself."

"Of course," Clary said again. "There's no need to thank me; I'd do anything for you."

"I know." Jace smiled. "Angel, but I love you."

"I love you, too."

As their lips touched, Clary's mind went blank. She was just about to suggest they sit down so he didn't have to bend when she felt Jace smile against her mouth.

"Let's not keep the Fairchild family history waiting, shall we?" he whispered low in her ear. He pulled away and chuckled at her dazed expression.

Clary shook herself out of her shock. "You're evil, Jace Herondale." Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry, I meant to say –"

Jace shook his head. "Wayland, Morgenstern, Herondale, Lightwood…. I don't care what I am as long as someday you'll agree to share the same name."

Clary blinked up at him. "Huh?"

He smiled. "Don't worry, that's not a marriage proposal. With everything going on, and with your mother and Luke getting hitched in a couple weeks, I think one wedding is all anyone can handle. But don't despair." He winked. "I still plan to be drawing that rune on you some day."

He opened the door and stood back for her to exit.


	2. Fairchilds and Even More Lightwoods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part was written after I found several snippets released by Cassandra Clare. Again, this came about before City of Heavenly Fire.

"…So then I tried dragging him, but obviously he's older, so that didn't work either. I've done everything I can think of: I've threatened him, I've hit him, I've yelled at him, I even tried getting him drunk! But nothing I do will get Alec out of his room. He doesn't even want to go out hunting! What Shadowhunter doesn't want to hunt demons? Ugh! He's so frustrating! And –"

"Isabelle. Izzy. Sister Dearest."

"What?" the black-haired girl snapped, irritated about being cut off.

Jace looked at her lazily from where he lounged on the windowsill. "I get what you're saying, really, I do. But you need to leave your brother alone. If he wants to mope, let him."

Izzy glared at her adopted brother. "Let him mope? Jace, he's been moping for two months now! You're acting as if this is no big deal! No one should be this withdrawn after a breakup."

Jace held up his hands. "I'm not saying it's normal, or healthy, but I am saying you need to back off him a bit."

"He's your _parabatai_. You should be doing something!"

"I have done something!" He looked hurt. "I got him to go outside."

"Yeah, and broke his new phone!"

"It's his fault; he kept calling Magnus and hanging up and it was getting on my nerves."

"Jace Lightwood, our brother is hurting, and you need to help me fix him, or I swear by the Angel –"

"Isabelle!"

The adoptive siblings both looked at the red-haired girl that sat at the library desk. She had been intently flipping through some heavy-looking books but was now staring at the arguing brother and sister in exasperation.

Clary put her pencil down and sighed. "Izzy, you've been taking care of Alec for the past nine hours. Why don't you call Simon and go to Taki's?"

Isabelle shook her head. "No way, last time we almost got caught by Maureen's followers."

"Okay then, go to his apartment."

"Not gonna happen; Maia's there. Ever since she and Jordan got back together they've been unbearable."

"Well then invite him over here."

Izzy stared at her brother's girlfriend. "Um, Clary? I know you're still relatively new to the Shadow World, but I know you know the Institute is on hallowed ground. Simon can't come inside."

"Isabelle, there is a perfectly good Sanctuary attached to the Institute that's not on hallowed ground. Why don't you use it?"

"… Oh. Yeah. Well okay, then." Isabelle stood up from her chair and left the library, tapping away at her phone.

" _Finally_!" Jace exclaimed, sliding off his windowsill perch and stalking over to the desk. "I thought she'd never leave." He leaned down for a kiss, only to find his girlfriend's head already bent over the tomes again. "Ah, come on, Clary. She was in here for the past half hour, and now we're finally alone!"

"Jace, I only told Izzy to call Simon because a), Maia and Jordan actually are driving him crazy, b) I wanted to prevent a fight, and c) I can't concentrate when you two are bickering."

"But _Clary_ …"

Clary had to struggle to keep the smile off her face. No matter how much he acted like a big-bad Shadowhunter, he could really be a little kid sometimes.

"No, Jace. You promised we would research my family history, and we couldn't do it the other day because Mom freaked out when I wasn't at Simon's and made me go home. Now you have to help me."

Jace groaned half-heartedly and slumped down into a chair across the desk. He grabbed one of the thick books and began flipping pages.

About a half hour had passed – surprisingly in almost-silence, apart from Jace's incessant humming – before the couple came across anything. Jace was in the middle of Matchbox Twenty's _How Far We've Come_ when he suddenly cut off mid-hum. Clary glanced up, startled by the sudden silence, and saw him sitting straight up in his seat, staring wide-eyed at the page before him.

"Jace? What is it?" she asked in concern.

He looked up at her, and she was surprised to see amazement in his eyes. "Charlotte Branwell."

Clary shook her head, not understanding. "Huh?"

"You're related to Charlotte Branwell."

"What does that mean?"

Jace flipped the book around and moved to stand beside her. "Look." He stabbed his index finger down on the page. "In 1872, Henry Jocelyn Branwell married to Charlotte Mary Fairchild. A few years later, they were made the Heads of the London Institute. In 1878, after the tragic death of Consul Josiah Wayland, she was made the first female Consul in Shadowhunter history. She's the role model for all Shadowhunter girls. You should know her; I know you've read the Codex."

Clary tilted her head. "Her name is familiar…." She frowned. "But wouldn't all her children be named Branwell?"

Jace shook his head. "Not necessarily. Since she was the last of the Fairchilds after her father passed away, she and Henry probably decided to continue her family name."

Clary thought for a moment before jolting into motion. She grabbed another book and quickly thumbed through it, her eyes scanning the pages. She finally stopped and pointed with a pleased "ah-ha!"

"Found them!" she exclaimed. "It looks like they had three sons: Charles, Matthew, and Aloysius. It doesn't have much on them, only that Aloysius married and had Granville the Second, who married Adele Nightshade, and they had my mom." She blinked. "So that's why my middle name is Adele."

"And your mother's name probably came from Henry Branwell's middle name. Shadowhunters tend to keep names in the family."

Clary tilted her head. "Is Isabelle a family name? I know Cecily and Gabriel Lightwood had a son named Alexander."

Jace frowned. "I'm not sure. Where did you say you found those family trees?"

She handed him a book. "In here."

He flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

"Hey!" he said, surprised. "It looks like Gabriel had an older brother, Gideon. Gideon married Sophie Collins – an Ascended mundane – and they had Barbara, Eugenia, and Thomas." He stopped. "Well, that explains it. Alec's middle name is Gideon, and Isabelle's is Sophia. Must be after these two."

Clary leaned back in her chair. "All this research is giving me a headache. I'm calling it quits before this becomes a migraine."

Jace reached out to help her up. "Want to come upstairs?"

She gave him a look. "Jace, the only places upstairs where we could possibly go are the training room, the weapons room, and your bedroom."

He raised a golden brow. "Your point is?"

"I'm not in the mood to train, I don't enjoy polishing weapons like you do, and you _know_ what'll happen if we go in your room. So no, I don't want to go upstairs."

Jace was about to retort when the library door opened. They both looked to see a black-haired figure shuffle inside. The male wore wrinkled, grungy sweatpants, a ratty t-shirt, and no shoes. His hair was stuck out in all different directions, and it was greasy, as if it hadn't been washed in days. In all honesty, it probably _hadn't_ been washed in days.

The figure was Alec Lightwood.

No one spoke as the Shadowhunter stumbled over to the couple, his feet dragging. When he was in front of the desk, he stopped and looked up. His blue eyes, usually so full of light, were empty.

"Hey," he said. His voice was hoarse from not speaking for a while.

"Hi, Alec," Clary said softly.

Alec turned to his _parabatai_. "Have you seen Isabelle?"

Jace stared at his brother for a moment before answering. "She's in the Sanctuary with Simon. She needed a distraction after spending nine hours looking after _you_."

"Jace!" Clary hissed, appalled at how he was speaking to his best friend.

Neither boy looked at her. After a brief silence, Alec spoke.

"The last time we were in Idris, you confronted me about my feelings for Magnus, and you said I was lying about how I felt because I was afraid to tell anyone who I really loved." He took a breath. "And you were right. I took a chance and showed everyone who I love and now he's gone because I'm a selfish idiot."

Jace was quiet. "Are you done?"

Alec nodded.

The golden-haired boy reached out and hugged his _parabatai_. "Good. That's all I needed to hear." He pulled away and looked seriously into Alec's eyes. "But really, you need to stop with the moping. Izzy is worried about you, I'm worried about you, hell, even _Simon_ is worried about you. You're lucky Maryse and Robert are in Idris, otherwise you'd be in big trouble."

Alec smiled slightly. "I know. I'm going to try, honestly. It might take time, but… I'm going to try."

Jace grinned. "That's all I ask." He began to close books and straighten things up. "Well, Clary and I were just headed up to the training room. Would you like to join us?"

"Um, excuse me," Clary spoke up, annoyed. "I believe we've already established that the training room is not an option for a pastime today."

Jace grinned at her. " _You_ established that. I said nothing."

Alec smiled at their bickering. "That's alright. I think I'm going to take a shower and change. Maybe I'll see if Izzy wants to get lunch at Taki's."

Clary smiled encouragingly. "You should; I think she'd like that."

Alec nodded and left the library.

Jace turned to Clary. "Ready to go train?"

She gave him a look.

"Okay, so maybe not." After a moment, he said, "You know, you forgot one other place we could go. It's here at the Institute, it can get kind of warm up there, but it's beautiful and significant to us and our relationship…."

Clary smiled. "The greenhouse?" When her boyfriend nodded, her grin widened. "Well, if you insist."

She grabbed his hand, calloused from so many years of weapon-wielding, and followed him from the library, happy that everything appeared peaceful – for now.

**Author's Note:**

> All information about both the Herondale and Lightwood families came from the Shadowhunter Wiki. If anyone is interested in the Fairchild family, or Gideon and Sophie's side of the Lightwood family, let me know.
> 
> I know Jace's book would have been lost when the apartment blew up. Let's pretend not, 'kay?


End file.
